Yet another film to look forward to-- The Illusionist by French animator Sylvain Chomet. I don't know if you saw The Triplets of Belville but I had never seen anything like it before, a beautiful hand-drawn animated movie capable of bringing out so many emotions. It has been eight years and I can't even imagine how many millions of hours has gone into making the The Illusionist, but I am going to have to find some way to persuade my grandfather to see this with me (though we'll have to wait until we're back in NY.)

Now, meditate on beautiful music.

This is my favorite time of the year to go to the movies. There are so many good options as it nears the Oscars. We watched "The Fighter" last night and although I've still got a list of movies to see before the year ends, this is going to be a hard one to beat. You need to see it too!

Regression

When I start asking my grandfather for a cigarette and, this may sound really strange but, when my sister starts re-watching Bollywood movies late at night... we know that things are starting to fall apart again.

I don't know what it is exactly... perhaps it's the snow and the cold weather, or that this time of year inevitably reminds us of the losses we've experienced... or maybe it's simply because we are shopping at the Walmart every other day! But the holidays are always a weird time for us.

But hey, at least there's always one movie that can cheer us up! 

 

It's -6 degrees celcius today! And sunny too! Lovely day for taking a walk, although it's still very, very cold. 

Here's the beautiful cowl my sister knitted for me. 

Now... try to sing along to all the "oh"s in the last part of "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side!"

I saw "Diner" the other day during my flight and I wondered why I hadn't ever gotten around to seeing this sooner. It came out the year I was born! If you've never seen it before, it's about 6 friends whose favorite hangout is the diner. Not much really happens-- you just see various moments of their lives-- but it's these scenes that reveal so much about their characters. Yea, it's old and some parts seem cheesy now, but there are also some really great moments. Plus, you get to see Mickey Rourke in his prime!

I didn't realize I missed Cali so much until I got here! It's so beautiful. Just being here makes me happy... Maybe one day I'll find my way back for good.

This is major Tom to ground control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in the most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today